Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel said Friday it was under attack from a new barrage of Iranian missiles, as US President Donald Trump warned Washington had yet to begin “destroying what’s left” of Iran’s infrastructure. The war started more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.
Strikes from both sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict’s impact beyond the battlefield. Israel’s military reported a new missile salvo from Iran on Friday, with its air defences activated to down them. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israeli emergency services reported some damage to houses and cars from an unintercepted cluster missile, while Israeli military radio said a train station in Tel Aviv was damaged by shrapnel. The Iranian fire came as Trump said the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” on his Truth Social platform, after saying Iran’s tallest bridge had been destroyed. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted that “striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender”.
– Ex-FM urges peace deal – Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief. “Iran should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one,” wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister from 2013 to 2021. Iran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, where in peacetime one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passes through. As a result, fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide.
Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that in response to Trump’s threats to attack infrastructure, Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region, calling on “countries hosting US military bases” to “force the Americans to leave their countries”. A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait’s national oil company on Friday sparked fires at several of its units, state media said. In Abu Dhabi, a gas complex shut after a fire broke out, the government said. “Authorities are responding to an incident of falling debris at the Habshan gas facilities, following successful interception by air defence systems,” the emirate’s media office said on X. In Dubai, the emirate’s two Catholic churches said ahead of Easter weekend that masses would be cancelled until further notice, citing safety concerns.
– Global impact – Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday that 1,345 people had been killed and 4,040 wounded since the start of the war, including 1,129 men, 91 women, and 125 children. The ministry said the toll also included 53 healthcare workers. Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses.
The war’s economic impact is rippling far beyond the Middle East. Oil prices surged to around $110 a barrel on Thursday after Trump warned of further strikes on Iran. Oil markets were closed Friday. Analysts said that Trump’s recent address to the nation failed to provide clarity on an exit strategy from the war, with Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid noting there was “no signal of the US seeking an imminent off-ramp”. Egypt has ordered shops, restaurants, and shopping malls to close from 9:00 pm on weekdays, hoping to curb energy bills that have more than doubled because of the war. Australia’s government urged motorists on Friday to fill their cars at city petrol stations if they’re planning long road trips over the Easter holiday, as rural towns face fuel shortages. Japanese airlines are mulling fuel surcharges, while New Zealand reported that electric vehicle sales more than tripled in March.
© 2024 AFP
